Swamy to move SC seeking contempt action against Sibal

Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy on Monday said he will move the Supreme Court seeking contempt of court action against Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal for stating that the CAG report of Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss to the exchequer due to 2G spectrum allocation was "erroneous".

Swamy, who has filed a petition seeking cancellation of licences issued for 2G spectrum during the tenure of former telecom minister Raja, told reporters that within a day or two he will file an application in this regard.

"We are moving an application seeking contempt action against the minister," he said.

His decision to file the application for contempt came after the Supreme Court refused to be drawn into the controversy on the statement of Sibal disputing the CAG's figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore as presumptive loss to the exchequer.

"We cannot take cognizance of that as it is not part of our record here," a Bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said when its attention was drawn that Sibal has made a comment that the CAG figure was incorrect and there was no loss to the exchequer in the allocation of spectrum.

The remarks by the Bench came when advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) and Swamy seeking cancellation of the 2G licences, submitted that Sibal had disputed the CAG report.